Missing the whole picture on the opioid crisis?

You’ve probably seen a few stories about the opioid crisis. I find many of them confusing because most don’t paint the whole picture of what’s going on.And that’s a problem, because the big picture is something that you and every health care consumer should know. Especially if you even remotely know someone affected by this situation.

The opioid crisis really isn’t just a single story, but a bunch of circumstances that have created a crisis that may not be solved without a radical overhaul of how we treat pain in America.

I always try to keep these emails upbeat, but I also want to be honest and say that this overhaul probably isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

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So, in the meantime, a lot of people are going to needlessly suffer. Some are even going to die. And that’s the bad news.

The good news is that by simply receiving this email and taking your time to read it, you now have the potential to save a future life by sharing this information in whatever way you think is helpful.

So here’s what’s happening, broken down into six facts.

Fact 1: Opioid prescriptions are habit forming

Opioids are a class of narcotics that can be prescribed by doctors for pain

Opioid are powerful, and really are helpful in serious cases (think pain related to cancer treatment and intense surgical procedures for example)

However, opioids are also habit forming – they can be addictive, and they can also be abused by persons who were previously prescribed the drug, or by persons addicted to other forms of street narcotics

Resource:
I made a video about this and posted it to the Facebook page for the practice. That video is here.

Fact 2: Opioid prescriptions were intentionally pushed, and a lot of it was illegal, or at least unethical, and people died

The writing of opioid prescriptions tripled since 1999 while pain levels did not rise

Deaths associated with opioids more than quadrupled, and most deaths were from pills that weren’t prescribed to the person

In some cases, this increase was due to pressure and (alleged) bribery from pharmaceutical companies to increase these prescriptions

Pain pill mills opened, and billions of pills were moved through small towns, and most – we can assume – went out into the street

As we covered above, most opioid prescription deaths aren’t for the properly prescribed person, for a limited treatment time

Many opioid deaths are from abuse by those who became addicted through a proper prescription, and then started abusing once their prescription was over

Other deaths are from those addicted to other narcotics, who found it easy to get access to opioids like Oxycontin and Fentanyl

Many other deaths are due to the cheapness and availability of heroine, which is a street available alternative for those addicted to prescription opioids

Fact 6: Increasing and then shutting down opioid access has its own problems

Once people are addicted to opioids it becomes a lot easier to turn to street narcotics when they can no longer fill a prescription

Limiting doctors from prescribing to those already addicted will result in more heroine use and death

Treatment has its own problems as many of the treatment drugs are incredibly expensive, and they too can be habit forming and abused!

Putting it all together…

So, let’s see where we are with this.

Shady companies pushed prescriptions of legal narcotics, and some doctors took money and agreed to do so

Average Town, USA was flooded with narcotics and millions of people who would never have developed such an addiction did so (most opioid prescriptions were written for women in their 40s)

Once the Pandora’s box of addiction is opened it’s hard to close it without creating more problems

Shutting down access to Oxycontin and Fentanyl will not necessarily lower addiction, as some will abuse recovery drugs, or turn to heroine

If we were to go back in time to undo this process, the answer seems obvious…

Give people alternatives for the most common causes of chronic pain than prescription opioids!

You’re probably saying, “Well, DUH!” Me too. And so are plenty of other good people in government agencies.

But here’s the problem.
The chiropractors, acupuncturists, massage therapists, and cognitive therapists don’t have millions of dollars in bribes nor endowment grants to educate the next generation of surgeons and anesthesiologists or pain doctors on how what we do can prevent the over-use of opioids.

We can’t influence the Food and Drug Administration. We just don’t have the authority to tell medicine how to do what it’s going to do.

And since the pharma lobby gives many, many dollars to representatives in federal and local governments, that isn’t going to change soon either.

So, that doesn’t feel good.

But here’s something we can do…

We can support people who have chosen not to use opioids for their concern about addiction and their side-effects

We can understand why some people may need opioids to function, and why addiction is a powerful side effect of treating chronic pain

We can support addiction recovery programs, especially those geared towards OxyContin, Heroine, and other narcotics

We can continue to recommend non-pharma strategies for chronic pain, especially chiropractic care – as so many pain problems that people are throwing powerful chemicals at really have a mechanical problem behind them

We can bring up these facts with our primary care doctors, and ask them what kind of opioid alternatives they recommend (and encourage them if they’re aware of these facts!)

We can let people know that for most people, opioids aren’t any better at killing pain than an strong over-the-counter painkillers

Please read that again. Despite all of this, there’s almost no evidence that opioids are actually better than strong NSAIDs

Dr. Zachary Ward first discovered the power of spinal care after watching his little brother heal from debilitating pain. Now he practices a unique form of chiropractic care that offers you the opportunity to experience your body in a new, freer way. Contact him via social media or via the contact form to request a ten minute health review. He also blogs at DrZWard.com.

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